Although the entrance to Mingyuan was much cleaner, because of those rumors, Yan Yan discussed it with Lu You and decided to go to the palace to meet the emperor.

It's not that she's afraid of arousing the emperor's suspicion, but she herself has two problems that she hasn't figured out, under normal circumstances, these princes and princes of other countries should be princesses and princesses who want to marry them, but this time they changed it to marry Lu Jin, aren't they afraid that the emperor of the Great Zhou will not be able to get by? Or is this matter past Li Cong's clear road? What about the Queen Mother's last words?

But if they didn't come directly to marry Lu Jin without the permission of the Great Zhou Emperor, then where would they put the Great Zhou Emperor?

Or are these people deliberately trying to provoke the relationship between Yan Yan and the royal family?

There is also a possibility that these people must know that the emperor of the Great Zhou will not agree, so they want to cut it first and then play, if Yan Yan agrees first, they will have a statement to go to Li Cong again.

Whatever the reason, Yan Yan wanted to find out.

Li Cong still met Yan Yan in the south study, and he didn't seem surprised by Yan Yan's visit at all, saying that it was two days later than he expected.

"Uncle Emperor means that you already knew about this? Why? Did you agree to their visit? Yan Yan was a little unhappy.

"Aren't you a smart guy? Can't see through this? If I don't agree to them, how can this matter be known to everyone? Li Cong glanced at Yan Yan, he didn't believe that Yan Yan couldn't see through.

Yan Yan opened his mouth and closed it again.

At this time, she suddenly understood that the emperor did this, firstly, because he did not want to personally roll up the face of those foreign envoys, for him, it was better for these neighboring countries to have one more friend than one more enemy; Second, the matter is big and spreads, which can be regarded as a foreshadowing for Li Xi and Lu Jin's engagement in the future, just imagine, a girl who is competing for the princes of other countries must have its merits and use value, in this case, why should he cheapen outsiders?

"Your Majesty, you are really smart, you do the good guys, I do the bad guys, and the trouble is mine." Yan Yan complained, but she didn't dare to say that the other party was "cunning", and replaced it with "smart".

"Girl, you're getting bolder, even I dare to complain?" Li Cong glared at her.

The courtiers didn't dare, but they only told half the truth. By the way, Uncle Emperor, what's the matter with the King of Goryeo, who wants to take refuge in our Great Zhou again? How much can they pay in a year? Yan Yan was curious, she wanted to know how big the price Gao Li offered.

"Most of them were women, horses, ginseng, porcelain, grain, paper, etc., and a small amount of gold and silver. But in fact, every time we come back from us, we give them enough to cover the tribute. Therefore, the tribute is not an end, but just for a reputation. After Li Cong finished speaking, he explained the reason for this incident to Yan Yan in detail.

It turned out that as early as the Tang Dynasty, Goryeo began to call the ministers the tribute, but the Tang Dynasty was quite economically developed, the country was rich, and they had always been generous to these vassal states, and every time they came to the New Year's tribute, they often gave more than their annual tribute, so they were also used to it, and even before the New Year's tribute, they were willing to come to worship, crying poor, and sometimes even not crying poor would let them return with a full load.

Later, the Tang Dynasty declined, but the habit was formed, saying that for the sake of face and diplomatic relations between the two countries, it still did not treat these vassal states badly, and sometimes even preferred to ask their own people to answer them correctly.

Later, the Tang Dynasty was gone, and a few years later, Goryeo became a vassal state of the Great Zhou, and the Great Zhou had just been established at that time, and the perennial conquest had already emptied the treasury, not to mention that compared with the Tang Dynasty in the prosperous period, even the Tang Dynasty in the later period could not compare, therefore, Goryeo was not without complaints.

No, it didn't take long for the Liao State to rise, and the Great Zhou Dynasty always wanted to take back the sixteen states of Yanyun, and fought with the Liao State in those years, and Goryeo saw that the momentum was not right, so he turned to the Liao State.

In terms of economic benefits, the loss of the Great Zhou is not big, but the social benefits are not good, which is not clear to tell the world that the Great Zhou State is weak, not as good as the Liao State, therefore, Li Cong also endured this tone for a long time.

This time the Queen Mother was mourned, he didn't expect that Gao Li would take the initiative to come to mourn, let alone Gao Li would fight Lu Jin's idea, Li Cong knew that Yan Yan would definitely not let him down, so he specially asked Gao Li to touch this nail.

As for the conditions proposed by Gao Li, Li Cong didn't want to agree, or rather, he didn't want to agree so easily, he definitely had to make them suffer a little and remember a little more.

Yan Yan saw that he had talked about this matter, and thought about it, so he simply asked about the battle situation ahead, whether Lu You needed to go to the front line.

"Speaking of this, I don't understand, our people are also out, and the artillery gunpowder is also out, why can't this Liao country beat the Jurchen?" Li Cong is trying to talk to Yan Yan about this.

He really couldn't figure it out, the Liao State had been suppressing the Great Zhou in those years, and there was a time when the Great Zhou had to pay 100,000 taels of silver and 100,000 horses of silk to the Liao every year, and this situation did not stop until the Zhou Liao War this time, which was also the reason why Li Cong wanted to form an alliance with the Jurchens to attack the Liao State at the beginning, and he didn't want to pay tribute so aggrieved anymore.

And the Liao State must have also sensed the Jurchen's intentions, so they wanted to form an alliance with the Great Zhou to solve the Jurchens first, because they also knew that the Great Zhou side was easy to deal with, and once the Jurchens rose, they would inevitably pose a greater threat to them.

Who knew that that time it was a coincidence, Qingyu Qingyun rescued Li Ji and kidnapped the prince of Liao at the same time, and Liao couldn't stand this anger, so he turned around and joined forces with the Jurchens.

Fortunately, Lu You came out of nowhere and gave Li Cong a great surprise, otherwise, Da Zhou would definitely be in danger.

To be honest, if it weren't for Lu You, Li Cong really wouldn't have the confidence to defeat the alliance of Liao, Jin, and Xia, so Lu You, the hereditary Pingyan Marquis, is definitely deserved, he gave it willingly, not to mention anything else, from now on, Da Zhou no longer has to suffer from Liao's anger, Liao in turn has to bow down to Da Zhou, money is one thing, prestige is another.

No, the Queen Mother died, and how many countries or tribes that had had a bad relationship with the Great Zhou or had a bad relationship took the initiative to mourn, and they also carried heavy gifts, including Jurchen and Mongolia.

Of course, Li Cong also knows that most of them have plans, but what does it matter? He was a hundred at ease with Yan Yan, so he could completely use these people's intentions to achieve his own goals, so as to seek greater benefits for the Great Zhou.

For example, this time the Jurchen, Li Cong also saw them coming, the Jurchen still intended to make friends with the Great Zhou, and wanted to carve up the Liao State with the Great Zhou, although this time there was no Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures as bait, but the Jurchen opened the conditions of Liaodong and Liaoxi, as long as they were close to the Mongolian grassland, the rest was given to the Great Zhou.

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